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Springside, Charter and GFS perform at MASA Tournament

This year the annual Girls Mid-Atlantic Squash Association Championships were transformed from an individual competition to a team tournament, and in an all-Main Line final in Division I, Baldwin School waltzed past tourney host Episcopal Academy last Saturday, 9-0.

New Jersey’s Lawrenceville School proved to be the bane of both the Germantown Friends and Penn Charter teams. The Big Red ladies got past the GFS Tigers, 5-4, in an early match, and then defeated the Quakers, 6-3, in the third-place playoff in Division I.

The Springside Lions were able to bring some hardware back across the Schuylkill, as they won the Division II title over the Harriton/Lower Merion High School team (HLM), 9-0. A total of 10 schools entered the MASA event, and beforehand they were seeded into one of the two divisions based on their results in regular season matches.

Three schools in each division received byes in the first round of the tourney, but GFS was one of two teams in Division I that didn’t get the free pass. Despite wins by the Tigers’ Fiechter (3-0), Celata (3-1), McKenzie (3-0), and Shropshire (3-0), Lawrenceville was stronger on the lower reaches of the ladder and was able to prevail, 5-4.

The Tigers were somewhat disturbed at the tournament seeding that led to their quick exit. They had beaten Penn Charter head-to-head in early January, although PC logged a win over Episcopal, which GFS was unable to do. Fiechter, a Chestnut Hill resident, was clearly the top high school player in the region this year, going undefeated in all of her individual matches without losing a single game in the process.

In Division II Agnes Irwin defeated the Hill School in the opening round. With that, the Owls advanced to meet the Springside line-up of junior Libbie Maine, seniors Annie Maxwell and Amanda Culp, eighth-grader Francesca Fabiani, freshman Caroline Canning, juniors Ellie Stout, Kelly Brady and Sam Blake, and freshman Courtney Hamilton. One of the Springside players could not participate in the first match at the tourney, so the line-up was completed by Carolina Concannon. Concannon is a senior who’ll attend Gettysburg College next year, along with Penn Charter upperclassman Kate Higgins.

The Lions cleaned house in their MASA opener against Irwin, winning 9-0 to move into the Division II final against HLM, which also swept its semifinal opponent, Shipley School.

The Quakers had beaten their semifinal foe, Episcopal, in a 5-4 regular-season match but that was before an injury sidelined senior Demi Angelakis. She’s bound for Bowdoin College next year, while PC’s Fehm has picked Penn.

At MASA last Saturday EA was able to turn the tables on Charter, winning their semifinal match at 5-4 to move into the finals against Baldwin, which defeated Lawrenceville, 7-2, in the other semifinal. The Baldwin Bears, who haven’t lost locally (one of their closest matches was a 6-3 win over PC), swept Episcopal in the finals, while PC squared off against Lawrenceville in the third-place playoff.

The two schools had split in their regular-season bouts, each team winning 5-4 at home. Once again, the Big Red were served well by their team depth, taking the number one match and then winning at number five through nine. Holding the line for Penn Charter were Harrington and Fehm, who won their matches at 3-1, and Roberts, who battled to a 3-2 decision, carrying the fifth game, 13-11.

Meanwhile, Springside toasted HLM, 9-0, in the Division II championship match. Maine won 3-0 in the top spot, although it took a rally from a 4-10 shortfall in the third game to accomplish the feat. Each of the other Lions won 3-0 except for Maxwell and Stout, who prevailed 3-1. Playing an exhibition bout at number ten, Concannon notched a 3-0 victory.

7 p.m. Mt. Airy Arts Performing Center, 230 East Gowen Ave. Behind Grace Epiphany Church All classes are Free for the trial period, but a donation $3 to $5 is suggested per session for the teacher.[...]